ETHICAL LEADERSHIP AND DECENT WORK IN PAKISTAN: A THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP PRACTICES SUPPORTING INCLUSIVE ECONOMIC GROWTH (SDG 8)

PurposeThis is research on the significance of ethical and sustainable leadership practices in enhancing decent work and inclusive economic growth in Pakistan. The study is based on the Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG 8) and explores the dimensions of leadership behaviours influencing fairness, employee well-being, job security, participation, and inclusive organizational outcomes in a developing-country setting that is institutional constrained. Design/methodology/approachThe research design used in the study is qualitative in nature, and it applies semi-structured interviews with managers, employees, and human resource professionals in Pakistani organizations in manufacturing industries, services, as well as governmental institutions. The thematic analysis method was applied as a six-phase process to data to enable inductive insights and theory-driven insights to come out (Braun and Clarke, 2021). FindingsThe results show that, ethical leadership promotes decent work by transparent decision making process, procedural fairness, employee voice, and observance to labour rights. Inclusive growth is also enhanced with the help of sustainable leadership, where close attention is paid to long-term relationships in employment relations, constant skills enhancement, and workers well-being. Nonetheless, presence of macroeconomic instability, informality and inability to enforce empirical rules limits achievement of SDG 8 at the organizational level. Research limitations/implications The research specifically targets one national context and this might restrict generalization. Comparative or longitudinal qualitative designs might be employed in future studies that endeavor to enhance the investigation of the leadership-based routes to decent work in less developed economies. Practical implications The results can give practical suggestions to organizational leaders, HR managers, and leadership formation institutions that would like to instill ethical and sustainable leadership practices that will advance decent work and inclusive growth. Originality/valueThis can be explained by the fact that by empirically connecting ethical and sustainable leadership with SDG 8 using qualitative data about Pakistan, the study expands the existing body of leadership and sustainability literature beyond Western application and therefore directly addresses the literature demands of contextually sensitive leadership studies.